Making a Mosaic

How a Mosaic is Made

April 26, 2017

After seeing the beautiful mosaics in St. George's Greek Orthodox Church, we stopped at a showroom where they were making and selling mosaics.

First, let's look at one of the mosaic pictures on a wall at St. George's.  Notice the detailed work, especially as shown in the close ups of the face and hands.

Now let's learn a little bit about the modern process.

The stones arrive at the workshop at sticks, some of which are seen in the foreground of the first photograph below.  The artisan is using a tool to cut them into small pieces of the size and shape that he needs.

The artisans below are doing the detailed work required to create the mosaics.

 The final photo shows two women working on a circular mosaic, which will be used as a table top when it is finished. 

The mosaics are made face down on the work table with a water-soluble glue holding it to a thin piece of cloth on which the design is drawn.  When the hand work is finished, the whole mosaic is flipped over onto a backing which is coated with a stronger permanent cement.  The cement is allowed to dry for several days.  Then the mosaic is treated with steaming hot water, which dissolves the original glue so that the thin cloth can be removed from its surface.